Conventional stands for mounting cymbals comprise a rod or pole having a threaded section at its upper end that is inserted through a central aperture in the cymbal. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 1,607,769 (Meyer); 3,994,198 (Herman); 4,216,695 (Hoshino); 4,526,083 (LeMert); and 5,808,217 (Liao). The disclosures in those patents are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The cymbal typically rests on an annular shoulder that may be formed as a diametrically widened section of the rod, and is secured to the rod by a wing nut, or the like, that threadedly engages the threaded upper section of the rod. It is conventional for an annular cushion of felt or similar material to serve as an intermediate support and is disposed about the rod immediately below the cymbal. The rod is typically provided with a tripod lower section for supporting the rod on a floor or other surface; see, for example, the aforementioned Herman patent. The wing nut arrangement permits the cymbal to be readily removed from the stand for storage or transport and to be mounted on other stands.
The cymbal, in use, must be mounted on the rod in a manner to prevent the mounting from damping the vibrations when the cymbal is struck. The extent to which the wing nut is tightened is often a matter of preference for each percussionist. In other words, the cymbal should be able to tilt or wobble somewhat when struck to the extent desired by the percussionist. When so mounted, the interior annular edge defining the cymbal aperture tends to wear against the rod as the cymbal wobbles until the aperture becomes irregular in shape and/or too large for suitable mounting purposes. This problem is tacitly recognized in U.S. Pat. No. 2,163,949 (Kiemle) in which a resilient rubber plug is disclosed and adapted to be mounted on the top of the cymbal stand. The plug includes a small diameter intermediate neck portion that extends through the cymbal aperture and requires a separate grommet to be inserted into the cymbal aperture and surround the plug neck. The Kiemle arrangement does not permit the cymbal to be readily removed from the stand and, if removed, the plug remains on the stand, not with the removed cymbal.